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The Muster- Blair Drysdale: Getting On With The Tractor Work · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's just another Manic Monday.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Wish it.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Was Sunday. Blair Drysdale runs a mixed farming operation and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: joins us this afternoon in the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Thanks to Sgt Dan's Stock Foods based here in Gore.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: We speak to various farmers from around the Southland region
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and South West Otago for that matter and just chew
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the fat. Block a good afternoon. Manic Monday by the Bengals.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: That's pretty much the state of play.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you're on point. Good afternoon. It is a manic Monday,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: just turning wheels, burning diesel and getting ground ready to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: drill after the rain, really.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Well, the last time we caught up, you were close
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to putting in rice paddies. What's the state of play now?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Well, without a word of lie, 200 metres from me,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: the irrigator is going tulips, so that sort of tells
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: you the state of play in this neck of the woods.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: It's definitely dried up a lot. Ground conditions are pretty
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: damn good now. Soil's working nicely. It's got a good
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: temperature about it now, so Yeah, a lot of tulips
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: are out in flower, the grass is growing, the wheat
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: and barley's looking bloody stunning. Stock are happy, they've got
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: sun on their backs. But yeah, we've tailed on Saturday,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: everything apart from the late ones. The issues all go,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: hoggets are lambing. More problems than the hoggets, not even
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: having big lambs and having to pull a lot. So
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I tend to go around them twice each afternoon. It's
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: a bit of a test. At our age, Andy, try
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: to catch a hoggart that's got no wall on it,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I was about to say, what's your patience like blocking
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: chasing hoggarts that you need to lamb? I don't think
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: it'd be too good.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, you've actually just got to, like I did in
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the electric side-by-side, they respond really well to that. The
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: rest of them don't really care and pick the one
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: out you need to lamb and run her to a
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: fence and jump off and catch her. So you do
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: have to tire them out a little bit because they're
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: quite quick. So just tire them out a little bit
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: along the fence line and and lamb them, and then
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: the good mothers, you poke that lamb back in front
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: of them and rub it all over its nose and
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: pull the leg through the jaw, and they're as happy
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: as pigs and shit, and they get on with it.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: So great wee mums. A lot of them having twins,
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: which I don't like in a hoggart. It tends to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: strip a lot of condition off the hoggart, and I've
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: had trouble in the past as two dudes sort of
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: getting in lamb again, but they've got a heap of
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: feed at their feet this year, too much really. But
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: hopefully it helps keep the condition on them, they milk well.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So you don't have a lambing dog, or that lambing
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: dog's name is Blair?
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, I am the lambing dog, and I'm not very
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: quick anymore.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: What do you mean? You're built for speed, mate. We're
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: all like that.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I might have been built for speed in my teens,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: but I'm not any longer. Body is not what it
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: used to be.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, join the club on that. So what's your grass doing?
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: It'll be recovering now.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean... Here in northern Southland, we were lucky
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: compared to pretty much all the rest of Southland and
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: western South Otago, that's the east of Otago on the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: coast there. So we missed a lot of that rain.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: So we never had, I've had no pasture damage. So
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: we've been lucky in that respect in here. So yeah,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: things are growing rapidly now around here. So it's good,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: plenty of grass in front of probably everything now.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: We're hearing of various rainfall figures for September, Blair. Any
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: idea what you had for September for the month?
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was over 200. I know that. We ran
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: about the 220, 230 off the top of my head.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: I don't really worry about keeping track of rainfall because
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: it is what it is. You can't know anything about it.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: But it was around there somewhere. So, yeah, just damp
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: enough for September again. But at least for October this year,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: we're not having a rinse and repeat of the last
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: two years for October, which has continued to be wet
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: right through to the end. So, yeah. I think it's
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: a little bit different in that respect. Yep, there's a
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: bit of rain on Wednesday, Thursday, but as you and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I were talking off here, there's parts of northern Southland
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: that won't say no to rain at the moment. So, yeah.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: That's the irony of the situation. All these tractors heading,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: we're going drills and the likes at the quay on
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Friday afternoon, and they were enjoying the conditions, to be fair.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, and right from Riversdale, right through to that quay area,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, we're on lighter soil somewhere, some stony soils, and,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: you know, you need rain everywhere. every 10 days at
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: this time of the year, if not sooner.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: So whereabouts are you on the farming cycle then? Have
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: you caught up on your track to work?
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: You're probably actually ahead of the game really on track
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: to work, but while you're ahead, you want to keep ahead,
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: so pretty happy with where we're at there. I'm just
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: waiting on water troughs, cattle troughs to turn up to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: put a water scheme in the new block, so once
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: we get that done, we can start ploughing some of
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: it over and young grassing it. There's still a lot
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: in front of me. There's 50 hectares of young grass
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: to put in, but it's probably going to wait until
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: late october early november before we get onto that too
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: much getting everything else on the ground's a bit more
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: important so um yeah someone's going to need to cut
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: a silage before we turn it over too so but
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: um it'll all be done things are progressing nicely as
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: long as we keep getting a bit of rain and
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: a heap of heat we'll be.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Fine the season is a marathon and not a sprint
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: but certainly in some parts of the region it's been
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: a bit more forgiving than.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Others oh definitely and like i say we're we were
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: lucky it's a bit more forgiving um You know, and
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: you feel for the guys down south, mate. I know,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you know, I've seen ewes and lambs and the poor buggers.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: You know, everything's, well, this was, you know, 10 days
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: ago was brown and no grass at their feet. And,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: you know, they look pretty terrible. So hopefully everything's improved
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: for all those guys. And the grass has moved a bit. And,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: you know, sun on the back helps those lambs a lot.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: So hopefully they keep getting rid of that.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Hey, Blocker, what's your cell phone coverage like there? Do
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you need to stand on one leg and practice your
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: ninja moves to get coverage, or what's the go?
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I can still stand on one leg, but I'm
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: not much of a ninja. But all in all, the
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: cell phone coverage has been shit for years. But Jodie
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: and I were just talking the other day. I reckon
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: it's been a little bit better in the last wee while.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Like where I am now, I couldn't have had a
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: conversation with you even six months ago, I don't feel, so...
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I think it's a little bit better. I don't know why. Yeah,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: there's that whole, like we said about that whole wearable thing,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: is it having an impact? I don't know. I just
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: think rural areas largely get forgotten about, but it all
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: changes when, you know, everything's going to move to satellite
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: sooner rather than later anyway, so it won't really matter
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: too much.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: A Federated Farmers Survey came out this morning saying since
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the 3G network was switched off in March this year,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: farmers have been even more frustrated with black spots and
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: poor reception. The survey of nearly 650 cockies wasn't flashed.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Over half of those farms have mobile coverage and less
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: than half the property. A third of farmers said they
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: had a place used to work on 3G but no longer.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: One in three farmers saying they can't rely on reaching
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: triple one for most of their farm. and 8% said
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: connecting to emergency services wasn't possible anywhere on the property.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Just very quickly as well, 15% regards satellite to mobile
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: as adequate solution for a cell tower, or that the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: vast majority of areas previously covered by 3G now have
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: 4G or 5G network. But this one here, one farmer
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: said they failed a work-safe audit because patchy coverage on
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: their property meant they couldn't check on their staff every
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: two hours.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, for I can't say what I was going to say.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: That's ridiculous.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I know, you just about had a bruise.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: The big one in all that, Andy, is when you
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: have to dial 111, and that's critical. And the only
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: possibility is everyone carries an EPARV on them, and I
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: know guys that do because, A, they're on heli or
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: rollier country, and there's that rollover risk, so I know
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: guys that do carry them. But anyone that's on flat
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: land that should be serviced by a cell phone network
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: properly Shouldn't have to go to that extent. And it's
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: a worry. I'm in that game with the polyphora. So
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: it's a worry if you can't go one by one.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I made our politicians aware of it. And I think
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: it all comes down to the telecommunication companies as such
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: as to what they want to do. So ultimately, it's
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: out of the government's hands.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: It is, that's up to Telcos, but that WorkSafe thing,
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: that's absolutely bullshit. I mean, someone had strung up for that.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: That's absolute nonsense, failing a WorkSafe audit because it's something
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: you have no control over. It's like failing because of
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: the weather, for God's sake. It's absolutely ridiculous.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: It's like losing fuel on the last lap of a
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Bathurst race.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, don't. Oh, comical, but it's happened in the past.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: It'll happen again, but all they needed, they said for
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: the last 20 laps, that they should have put another
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: second of fuel in. And that's what happens. But Kostecki,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: what a race from him. I mean, that was brilliant.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: I didn't watch all. I watched the start, and then
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: we did the stop work the afternoon, and we watched
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the last half of it. So, yeah, great race, full
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: of entertainment, and only one safety car. Doesn't get much better.
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: And Liam Lawson, too, doing everything he can to stay
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: involved with racing balls and Formula One. He had double
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: points over the weekend.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, He can't do any more to stay
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: at F1. They really don't have many reasons to get
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: rid of him. So it's going to be really interesting.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: The only reason they have to get rid of him
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: is he doesn't bring a lot of money and sponsorship.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: So other than that, as a driver, I can't see
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: how they can say no to him.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Blocker. We'll let you carry on. I'm
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: looking forward to this Hoggett catching video coming out any
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: time soon.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Well, I can't do the video and then chase him,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: I can assure you.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Get a GoPro, stick it on your head.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Oh, God, that'd be enough to topple me over, that
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: wee bit of extra weight on top. Righto. Thanks, mate.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Righto. Cheers.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: See you.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Blair Drysdale, Hoggart Lambing Shepard extraordinaire up next. Not far
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: away from Blair's Jeff Grant, we catch up, talk politics.